How does alcohol affect your apreciation of music? [Archive]

nightflier

09-29-2006, 10:52 AM

jrhymeammo

09-29-2006, 11:08 AM

Alcohol really kills my high frequency. I never sit around and drink by myself anyways. Good for venues where I dont need to sit and give absolute focus.

Opium tea w/ something mellow. Works like a miracle and it is legal.

-JRA

basite

09-29-2006, 11:23 AM

not that i have too much experience (none actually, i do drink a glass of wine sometimes, but that is not particulary when listening to music) but what theory has learned me is that it can't be any good if you're drunk (of course) but as long if you're not drunk or getting drunk (on the way to being drunk) i think it would'nt affect your listening too much.

SlumpBuster

09-29-2006, 11:31 AM

Up to a certain point, alcohol will enhance instument isolation for me. I might pick out the bass line and follow that or pick out a guitar and follow that.

After that point, it always ends up the same for me. I wake up the the next morning with cottonmouth and a Bay City Rollers LP looping endlessly on the TT. Sing it with me now, "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y-Night!"

rob7

09-29-2006, 12:25 PM

I do not use alcohol to enhance my appreciation of or experience with music. But I do use music to enhance my experience with alcohol-ha.

JohnMichael

09-29-2006, 01:10 PM

Cola based drinks tend to interfere with my sinuses and ear canals. Some artificial sweetners cause the same problems. This can create either very scratchy sounding highs or muffled highs depending on quantity. When it is time to listen a good glass of wine will open up the passages and improve my hearing. I also use sudafed if I have drank some diet cola before critical listening if it is too early or inconvenient to drink wine.

noddin0ff

09-29-2006, 01:22 PM

Bottle of wine and a jazz venue. Doesn't get much better. Honed the combo at Dimitrou's in Seattle, then onto Yoshi's in Oakland...and one at the Blue Note.

nightflier

09-29-2006, 01:23 PM

Opium tea. Haven't heard of that one. Legal? Are you writing in from Canada?

Ahem, to get back to the topic, I wasn't implying that alcohol had to enhance the experience. Sometimes a little dulling of the senses makes for a pleasurable experience too - kind of that comfortably numb feeling. Wow, I really should dust off some Floyd records this weekend....

jrhymeammo

09-29-2006, 01:34 PM

Opium tea. Haven't heard of that one. Legal? Are you writing in from Canada?

Nah, I'm write from Denver.
Legal? Yes(in America), as long as you dont try to sell or make it into other stuff. If you live in Texas, maybe you shouldnt bother. It's herbal medicine. If anyone is curious, PM me.

Since I dont like to drink by myself, music and drinks with my system isnt for me.

I need to stop getting pissed when my phone goes off when I'm listening to music.

peace.

progfan

09-29-2006, 02:09 PM

I tend to not appreciate music very much with alcohol. It makes me want to keep turning the volume up, but I'm also aware that the music stops sounding good. Also, if I've had too much to drink-and I'm a relative lightweight-I tend to keep changing CDs. My attention span just becomes non existent.

superpanavision70mm

09-29-2006, 02:30 PM

For me, good music or should I say "Great Music" does not need any assistance from a beverage, although I can understand how certain beverages enable a listener to feel more relaxed in that environment, so I suppose it depends on if you are doing casual listening or critical listening that really decides it all.

Usually when I am doing some serious listening I am at it for hours and I like to have something that keeps me alert like sweet tea or Mt. Dew. In a more relaxed state though anything goes.

Dusty Chalk

09-29-2006, 02:59 PM

Actually, I find alcohol dehydrates me, and makes me dizzy. So it gives a false sense of "surround".

On the other hand, it has a "euphoric" effect on carppy music, so...there's that. Think "beer goggles", only listening.

paul_pci

09-29-2006, 03:41 PM

As the resident drunk, I, unfortunately, would report that alcohol has little impact on my appreciation of music, except maybe to distract me too much. On the other hand, I'd say that my mood has the greatest impact on which music I appreciate at a given time.

cam

09-29-2006, 04:03 PM

When not having a few cocktails, I tend to put on a cd and skip through to only the songs that I like. When indulging a little, I will play any cd and listen to it from start to finish. Alcohol is useful when you haven't heard parts of your cd collection lately.

daviethek

09-29-2006, 04:09 PM

I used to partake of the green leaf every now an then and I always thought it was a music enhancer. Even though alcohol is also an intoxicant, it doesn't do the same for me when listening to music.

PapoHT

09-29-2006, 05:29 PM

A nice port with nice music= heaven.

Alcohol is basically a relaxer, and I find it actually heightens some of my senses somewhat i.e. almost like going under anesthetics.. or drifting into a nice deep sleep, being under hypnosis.. where the only sound is the music...

I mean people close their eyes every time when listening to a nice piece of music. Just imagine sipping on a nice vintage, fireplace going in a dark room, sitting in a nice leather recliner, feet up, eyes closed, listening to your favorite Jazz or Classical.... hmmmm...

Of course getting drunk will only make you fall asleep and listen to yourself snoring. Sipping is the key.

I also heard once that for example with Opera you should drink a very light tea (not lipton, but more fancy stuff like camomile or something). I dunno...

Mr Peabody

09-29-2006, 08:06 PM

Back in the days when I drank, I'm with the guy who said music was to enhance the drinking. What I listened to depended on my mood. The only thing I remember alcohol doing is the more I drank the louder the music had to be. So it either decreases your hearing or increases your appreciation so much you have to feel it.

givendale

09-30-2006, 12:56 AM

Large cherry red leather couch, glass of red\white\scotch\beer etc Tosca's J.A.C cd playing, eyes closed........excuse me I have to go :p

Feanor

09-30-2006, 06:04 AM

OK, we've all heard that certain drugs affect our senses. I frequently listen to music with a little wine, especially when I'm settling down with Coleman or Marsalis. Of course not so much with the kids or when I'm auditioning new equipment, but there is something to be said for how it enhances the experience. So what's your prefered beverage/music combination?

In fact I listen best and enjoy music the most on a Saturday or Sunday morning after I've had a cup of coffee. Music is best for me when I'm rested, relaxed, but wakeful.

I quite often sip a glass of wine or beer while listening to music in the early evening around supper or else just be for bed time. However this isn't by my best or most enjoyable listening.

JoeE SP9

09-30-2006, 07:16 AM

I used to partake of the green leaf every now an then and I always thought it was a music enhancer. Even though alcohol is also an intoxicant, it doesn't do the same for me when listening to music.

I still do and I think it still does. Alcohol which for me means Beer or Wine (I don't drink hard liquor) doesn't enhance the listening experience. It helps with dry mouth. It also helps wash down my munchies food.:ihih:

jocko_nc

09-30-2006, 10:21 AM

The smoker you drink, the player you get...

Riotpack

09-30-2006, 04:33 PM

I dont know about alcohol but listening to music after smoking ganja is an incredible experience, you can focus your hearing onto a single instrument and the sound stage just explodes into 3D since your concentration is all focused to your hearing.
Some music can get boring because you pickup on some things like using the same 4 chords in the whole song etc.

Geoffcin

09-30-2006, 04:45 PM

OK, we've all heard that certain drugs affect our senses. I frequently listen to music with a little wine, especially when I'm settling down with Coleman or Marsalis. Of course not so much with the kids or when I'm auditioning new equipment, but there is something to be said for how it enhances the experience. So what's your prefered beverage/music combination?

If I'm reviewing gear, or doing an A/B I won't even drink a cup of coffee. Tepid water, and cold concentration are what's called for then. Om the other hand, I've been to my share of Grateful Dead concerts, and as you know (or might have heard) very few people were NOT using some kind of mind altering substance during those (myself included). For MOST concerts I watch on my home system; the DVD goes in, and a bottle of wine gets opened. Perferable a Pinot or Cabernet...

kexodusc

10-01-2006, 04:03 AM

Geoffcin

10-01-2006, 05:06 AM

Wholly crap, Geoff's alive.

I don't find booze enhanced the music much at all...Maybe it blocks out some bad parts - if it can make ugly women look good, maybe it can make bad music sound good? Seemed to work for Metallica in the early days...maybe they should quit AA...

The reports of my demise have been greatly exagerated. Major project at work has left me little time for fun. But I did have time last night for some BV Cab and Elvis Costello recorded live on Austin City limits....

Grandpaw

10-01-2006, 06:12 AM

Seems to me like a glass of wine would give you a good start to your listening experience but if spilled on a speaker could really ruin the finish, Jeff

Words of wisdom from Grandpaw

nightflier

10-02-2006, 02:51 PM

So generally the consensus is that alcohol dulls the senses somewhat; and that this is not necessarily a bad thing. But what about pairing certain beverages with certain types of music. For example, one would probably not listen to Rob Zombie with a chardonay nor Enya with Jack Daniels. Or maybe one would, I don't know. What are some pairings that seem to work well?

Dusty Chalk

10-02-2006, 03:42 PM

Celine Dion and Witch Hazel?

daviethek

10-02-2006, 04:38 PM

Frank Sinatra and a couple of cold Miller High Life on a summer's eve.

Mr Peabody

10-02-2006, 05:40 PM

Who ever coined the phrase "sex, drugs/alcohol & Rock-n-Roll" wasn't lying. Of course, with the right crowd the hops went down pretty good with Hank Jr. Dwight , David Alan Cole etc. I remember an occasion where I was overly engrossed in the lights of a Rush video after some one gave me this little tiny piece of paper to eat. Actually every video after that point seemed extremely vivid.... hmmm.... maybe that was a proto type of HD.

jrhymeammo

10-02-2006, 06:00 PM

I've licked enough paper, liquid, powder, and goo in my life to start my own convention at a Holiday Inn, and I'm only talking about lickin'.
My old ol' thing used to be coke and Billy Holiday.Woooooooooo I dont think anything in life can produce sound that bright high frequency.
I'll never walk that path again. I still love Ms. H.

jrhymeammo

10-02-2006, 06:08 PM

Woooooooooo I dont think anything in life can produce sound that bright high frequency.

Nope. I was wrong.
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=08f6908bec22de942b9621ad6bd308c6.722639&cache=1
maybe it's just my Grado 60 but....

Kinda crazy how I just found that.

Peace
-JRA

basite

10-03-2006, 07:03 AM

I need to stop getting pissed when my phone goes off when I'm listening to music.

peace.

this might just be the worst thing that could happen to me, it enerves me really really hard, last time i bashed the phone, ...then i unplugged it.

no-one may interupt me listening to music.

greetz, basite.

nightflier

10-03-2006, 12:12 PM

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=08f6908bec22de942b9621ad6bd308c6.722639&cache=1
maybe it's just my Grado 60 but....

jra, just out of curiosity, what would you drink to that (that is, before it breaks the glass)? And will those grados really capture it all? Yeah, kind of funny how you just found that...

:D :D :D

musicoverall

10-03-2006, 12:28 PM